Valve assembly

ABSTRACT

The accidental release of fluid from containers in which it is under gas pressure, e.g., aerosol canisters, may be prevented by making part of the valve assembly rotatable about the valve stem. In one rotary position the pushbutton may be depressed while in another rotary position abutments on the neck of the container and on the pushbutton confront one another and prevent such action.

ZZZ/402.11, 402.14

D Umted States Patent 1111 3,s91,1 2s

[72] Inventor Jean Ramis [56] References Cited Yvelines, France UNITED STATES PATENTS gif 3 I969 2,752.066 6/1956 Ayres 1 222/402 11 x Pzifemed 1? 3,050,219 8/1962 Sagarin m1. 222/40211 x [73] Assi nee Estiblissemems Va] is 3,185,350 5/1965 Abplanalpetal ZZZ/402.11 Mmy Le Roi elites France 3,262,607 7/1966 Hirsch. 222/402.11

[32] Priority July 8' 968 3,426,948 2/1969 St1rl1ng.... 222140211 [33] France Primary Examiner-Henry T. Klinksiek [31] 158,225 Attorney-Karl F. Ross [54] VALVE ASSEMBLY Drawmg ABSTRACT: The accidental release of fluid from containers [52] US. Cl 251/100, in which it is under gas pressure, e.g., aerosol canisters, may ZZZ/402.1 1 be prevented by making part of the valve assembly rotatable [51] Int. Cl ..Fl6k 35/00, about the valve stem. In one rotary position the pushbutton 865d 83/06 may be depressed while in another rotary position abutments Field of Search 251/; on the neck of the container and on the pushbutton confront one another and prevent such action.

PATENTED JUL 6l97l 3,591,128

SHEEI 2 OF 3 PAT ENTEU JUL 6187i SHEET 3 OF 3 VALVE ASSEMBLY This invention relates to a valve assembly for containers holding a liquid under gas pressure, for example aerosol canisters and the like.

Containers filled with a more or less pasty liquid product under gas pressure from a liquefied or compressed gas are normally closed by a valve mounted on their neck. This valve enables the measured distribution or vaporization of the product present in the container by simple pressure on its pushbutton.

The necessity thus arises of protecting this pushbutton when it is desired not to use the container, to avoid involuntary depression thereof capable of opening the valve and leading to expulsion of the product.

This protection is generally provided by a cap which covers the whole of the valve. This solution to the problem always has the inconvenience of needing two separate elements, i.e. a valve and a cap, and for this reason it often happens that the user loses the cap during the first few uses and then, with example for containers for toilet products, finds himself, when traveling, put to the trouble of so placing the container in his luggage as not to run the risk of accidental opening of the valve during the handling of the luggage with possible damage in a fashion prejudicial to other articles contained therein.

There is likewise known for this purpose a valve guard in the form of a fixed cylinder in which the pushbutton may slide, the internal diameter of the cylinder allowing for the insertion of a finger. To facilitate actuation the coplanar end faces of the pushbutton and of the cylinder are often concave and slightly beveled.

Protection is thus ensured except when an object acts on the center of the pushbutton without coming into contact with the end face of the guard cylinder.

Finally, pushbuttons are known which reduce this risk and whose tubular outer portion is partly closed while leaving only a lateral passage for the finger of the user.

Neither of these last two solutions is very effective.

The apparatus according to the invention ensures a positive blocking of the pushbutton in its retracted position which prevents its displacement under any pressure exerted thereon in the closed valve position, within the limits of the mechanical resistance of the assembly.

A valve assembly according to my invention comprises a discharge tube and a pushbutton fitted thereon while forming an extension of this tube, the latter being axially movable against a return spring for opening the valve and rotatable jointly with the pushbutton about its axis. The pushbutton carries transverse contact surfaces which, in at least one rotary position and with the valve closed, confront abutments integral with the neck of the container and which are disaligned from these abutments in at least one other rotary position of the pushbutton.

Preferable the abutments are part of the body of the valve or of the neck of the container, so that the valve assembly can be fitted in conventional fashion onto the container itself or onto a separate neck designed to be fixed to the edge of the container mouth.

According to one aspect of the invention, the portion of the pushbutton which surrounds the valve tube comprises at least one lateral projection and slides in a cylinder carried by the neck which has a groove for the passage of this projection.

Thus the pushbutton can be depressed only in the position where the projection and the groove are aligned.

In this case, for robustness of construction, I prefer to use two molded projections diametrically opposite and in the shape of ring-cylinder segments.

In a modified construction, the neck of the container comprises radial anns while the pushbutton, in the shape of a cap, encloses these arms whose ends are engageable with contact surfaces on the inner edge of the cap.

Preferably the arms are elastically deformable in the radial direction, and the inner wall of the cap forms a cam surface to push them back radially from a position of confrontation with the contact surfaces. To this end the inner cap surface has recesses matching the ends of the arms, the edges of the recesses directed towards the container constituting abutments for these arms.

The elastic arms are advantageously molded integral with the valve body with a ring serving as a hub therefor.

The advantage of such a construction is that, on rotation, the pushbutton is kept in its limiting inward position by elastic stress.

The following description will serve to show how the invention can be put into practice reference being made to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of various elements forming a first embodiment of the valve assembly according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an axial section of the assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an axial section, along line llllll of FIG. 4, of a second representative embodiment; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 show this second embodiment in locked and unlocked positions, respectively.

In the first embodiment, an element 1, having the shape of two cylindrical cups extending in opposite directions from a common base, is mounted on a valve cap 2 which is fitted onto the neck of a container 3. The inner edge of the lower cup bears a rim 4 which anchors the element 1 onto the assembly. Element 1 is pierced at its center by a cylindrical hole 5 whose diameter is large enough to allow a discharge tube 6 of the valve to move freely therein. Finally, the upper cup of element 1 has disposed therein, on a circle between the central orifices and its periphery but preferably near the center, several (preferably two diametrically opposite) pillars or checks 7 in the shape of ring-cylinder segments, each extending over a fraction of a circle, e.g.

On the exterior of the tube 6, fixed to it by a force fit, is a likewise cylindrical pushbutton 8 which, like element 1, has several pillars or cheeks l0 arrayed about a central nipple 9 in which tube 6 is slidable, these being again opposite cheeks each extending over a fraction of a circle, e.g. a quadrant. The discharge path formed by tube 6 terminates at an outlet in pushbutton 8. A depending skirt on pushbutton 8 surrounds the cooperating element 1, outside the neck of container 3, in peripheral contact with that element but with freedom of both rotary and axial relative displacement.

The height of these pillars is such that, in the closure position of the valve, the pillars 7 and 10 are aligned and touch so as to prevent the pushbutton from being depressed. In the open position, i.e. when the pushbutton has been rotated through a quarter turn, the pillars clear one another and actuation is possible. Foreasier movement I may bevel one of the faces of pillars 7 or 10, as shown at 11, on the same side thereof and reduce their size to slightly less than a quarter of a circle. Finally, one of the faces of the pillars can be provided with bosses 12 which form abutments allowing only limited rotation of the pushbutton by about half a turn, i.e. between an open and closed positions.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3-5, a ring 13 fixed to the neck of the valve cap 2 comprises two or more generally radially extending arms 14. The ring 13 and the arms 14 are made of a flexible and elastic material. The mounting of the ring 13 on the valve cap is obtained by force fitting around the neck thereof, an inner rib 16 of the ring engaging elastically in a groove 17 of the neck formed upon the seating of the valve in the valve cap. The ring and the arms are thus kept fixed with respect to container 3. The arms are elastic and both curved in the same sense; when free, they have a span just exceeding the inner diameter of a pushbutton 20 which envelops the whole unit and grips the tube 6 while forming a protective skirt about the container neck; the inner peripheral surface of this skirt is provided with axially extending recesses 18 conforming, in plan view, to the shape of the ends of the arms 14. The height of these recesses is such that in the closed position of the valve their upper edges I9 lie just above the upper face of the elastic arms 14.

When the pushbutton is turned with respect to ring 13 and arms 14 to a sufficient extent in the direction of arrow F the free ends of arms 14 elastically engage in the recesses 18.

At this point, the pushbutton cannot be pressed down since the transverse edges or shoulders 19 of the recesses meet the ends of the arms.

On turning the pushbutton 20 in the other direction (arrow F convex sides of the arms and the sloping faces of the recesses cam the arms inwardly to unblock the pushbutton and to allow its displacement.

Abutments (not shown) cam limit rotation of the pushbutton 20 in the opening direction.

In the closing direction, rotation is stopped by contact between the ends of the arms 21 with the confronting lateral edges 22 of the recesses.

It is also possible to have the arms carried on the inner wall of the pushbutton and to form the recesses on the central ring 13 which would then engage the neck of the valve cap.

I claim as my invention:

1. A valve assembly for a container holding a liquid under gas pressure and having an opening surrounded by a neck, comprising:

valve means including a discharge tube for said liquid projecting from said neck with freedom of rotation about its axis and inward axial displacement from a closed valve position to an open valve position;

a pushbutton rigid with the projecting end of said tube having an outlet for liquid discharged from said tube;

and a cooperating elernent fixedly seated on said neck and extending radially therebeyond while forming a central passage for said tube, said pushbutton having a peripheral skirt enveloping said element in peripheral contact therewith for relative sliding and rotary motion, said pushbutton and said element being provided with axially confronting formations aligned in a first rotary position of the retracted pushbutton but disaligned in a second rotary position thereof whereby inward displacement of said tube by depression of said pushbutton is possible only in said second rotary position.

2. A valve assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said formations are two pairs of diametrically opposite cheeks centered on the axis of said tube, each ofsaid cheeks extending over an arc of substantially 90.

3. A valve assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the cheeks of at least one pair are provided with lateral bevels for guiding the cheeks of the other pair into the intervening gaps in said second rotary position.

4. A valve assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein certain of said checks are provided with axially projecting bosses limiting relative rotation of said pushbutton and said element to substantially half a turn.

5. A valve assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said neck is closed by a cap giving passage to said tube, said element comprising a ring seated on said cap inwardly of said neck and a set of resiliently deformable arms extending generally radially outwardly into peripheral contact with said skirt, said formations being constituted by the free ends of said arms and by internal shoulders on said skirt.

6. A valve assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein said skirt has internal recesses with transverse edges forming said shoulders, said recesses having camming surfaces for dislodging said free ends from said recesses upon rotation of said pushbutton from said first to said second rotary position.

7. In a container holding a liquid under gas pressure and having an opening surrounded by a neck and valve means including a discharge tube for said liquid projecting from said neck with freedom of rotation about its axis and inward axial displacement from a closed valve position to an open valve position, the combination therewith of:

a cap spanning said neck while giving passage to said tube;

an annular member fixedly mounted on said cap and surroundin said tube with clearance inwardly of said neck; and a pus button member rigid with the projecting end of said tube having an outlet for liquid discharged from said tube, said pushbutton member enveloping said neck with an inner peripheral surface spacedly surrounding the outer peripheral surface of said ring, one of said members being provided with a set of resiliently deformable arms extending generally radially from said peripheral surface thereof to the confronting peripheral surface of the other of said members and frictionally contacting the latter surface by their free ends, said latter surface being formed with peripherally spaced shoulders overlying said free ends in a first rotary position of said pushbutton member for preventing inward displacement of said tube, said shoulders being disaligned with said arms in a second rotary position of said pushbutton member to enable depression thereof with displacement of said tube into said open valve position.

8. The combination defined in claim 7 wherein said latter surface has internal peripheral recesses with transverse edges forming said shoulders, said recesses having camming surfaces for dislodging said free ends from said recesses upon rotation of said pushbutton member from said first to said second rotary position.

9. The combination defined in claim 8 wherein said arms are curved in their plane of rotation with convex sides bearing upon said camming surfaces in said first rotary position.

10. The combination defined in claim 7 wherein said arms are integral with said ring member. 

1. A valve assembly for a container holding a liquid under gas pressure and having an opening surrounded by a neck, comprising: valve means including a discharge tube for said liquid projecting from said neck with freedom of rotation about its axis and inward axial displacement from a closed valve position to an open valve position; a pushbutton rigid with the projecting end of said tube having an outlet for liquid discharged from said tube; and a cooperating element fixedly seated on said neck and extending radially therebeyond while forming a central passage for said tube, said pushbutton having a peripheral skirt enveloping said element in peripheral contact therewith for relative sliding and rotary motion, said pushbutton and said element being provided with axially confronting formations aligned in a first rotary position of the retracted pushbutton but disaligned in a second rotary position thereof whereby inward displacement of said tube by depression of said pushbutton is possible only in said second rotary position.
 2. A valve assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said formations are two pairs of diametrically opposite cheeks centered on the axis of said tube, each of said cheeks extending over an arc of substantially 90*.
 3. A valve assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein the cheeks of at least one pair are provided with lateral bevels for guiding the cheeks of the other pair into the intervening gaps in said second rotary position.
 4. A valve assembly as defined in claim 2 wherein certain of said cheeks are provided with axially projecting bosses limiting relative rotation of said pushbutton and said element to substantially half a turn.
 5. A valve assembly as defined in claim 1 wherein said neck is closed by a cap giving passage to said tube, said element comprising a ring seated on said cap inwardly of said neck and a set of resiliently deformable arms extending generally radially outwardly into peripheral contact with said skirt, said formations being constituted by the free ends of said arms and by internal shoulders on said skirt.
 6. A valve assembly as defined in claim 5 wherein said skirt has internal recesses with transverse edges forming said shoulders, said recesses having camming surfaces for dislodging said free ends from said recesses upon rotation of said pushbutton from said first to said second rotary position.
 7. In a container holding a liquid under gas pressure and having an opening surrounded by a neck and valve means including a discharge tube for said liquid projecting from said neck with freedom of rotation about its axis and inward axial displacement from a closed valve position to an open valve position, the combination therewith of: a cap spanning said neck while giving passage to said tube; an annular member fixedly mounted on said cap and surrounding said tube with clearance inwardly of said neck; and a pushbutton member rigid with the projecting end of said tube having an outlet for liquid discharged from said tube, said pushbutton member enveloping said neck with an inner peripheral surface spacedly surrounding the outer peripheral surface of said ring, one of said members being provided with a set of resiliently deformable arms extending generally radially from said peripheral surface thereof to the confronting peripheral surface of the other of said members and frictionally contacting the latter surface by their free ends, said latter surface being formed with peripherally spaced shoulders overlying said free ends in a first rotary position of said pushbutton member for preventing inward displacement of said tube, said shoulders being disaligned with said arms in a second rotary position of said pushbutton member to enable depression thereof with displacement of said tube into said open valve position.
 8. The combination defined in claim 7 wherein said latter surface has internal peripheral recesses with transverse edges forming said shoulders, said recesses having camming surfaces for dislodging said free ends from said recesses upon rotation of said pushbutton member from said first to said second rotary position.
 9. The combination defined in claim 8 wherein said arms are curved in their plane of rotation with convex sides bearing upon said camming surfaces in said first rotary position.
 10. The combination defined in claim 7 wherein said arms are integral with said ring member. 